THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT
Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28b-34
In a cartoon strip, Frank and Ernest are standing in front of rows of shelves of books. The sign on top of one of the shelves reads: “Law Library.” Franks tells Ernest: “It’s frightening when you think that we started out with just Ten Commandments.”
It is frightening! The Jews started out with Ten Commandments and ended up with 613; there are 1752 canons in our Canon Law!
There were two tendencies in Judaism: one expanded the law into many regulations; the other gathered the law into one summary sentence. Further, there were two schools of thought: one believed there were lighter and weightier matters of the law, and one could prioritize; the other held that all principles – even the smallest – were equally important and binding. Hence, the question the scribe asked in the gospel passage was a living issue in Jewish circles.
Jesus’ response gathers up the scripture of Israel in one statement. He quotes the creed of Judaism, the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:2-6, first reading): “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Alongside this creed, Jesus places another passage (Leviticus 19:18): “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” For Jesus, it is a combination of these texts that makes the summary and the essence of the law; religion is loving God and loving people.
The scribe, pleased with Jesus’ reply, makes a pertinent point: such love is better than all ritual sacrifices. But it is always easier to let ritual take the place of love; it is easier to let worship become a matter of the church building instead of a matter of one’s whole life.
Jesus loved God and people totally.
How am I going to imitate Jesus in the week ahead? How shall I love my God with my whole being? How shall I love my neighbour as myself?
PS: G.K. Chesterton said that the great lesson of Beauty and the Beast is that a person must be loved before he/she is loveable. Unless we feel loved, we cannot love. Just as abused children grow up to become abusers, loved children grow up to become loving adults. God loves and accepts us “just as we are”. Therefore, we can love and accept ourselves and in so doing, love and accept others.
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